Leaving Fish When On Holiday.

[Lord Zogat]

Whats the best suggestion for feeding fish when away for 3 - 5 days on Holiday. I know year ago when I was a kid there was slow disolving fish food. Does this work for tropical fish as well?

Or what about these automatic fish feeding machines? Are they better. We might have someone in to check on the kitty so I am sure they can feed the fish as well but would have to check.

Suggestions on what is best would help. Thanks guys.

 

[James40]

usually when i go somewhere for over 4 days i juss feed my fishes well and do about a 20% water change before i leave... none of em ever die so i guess this works?

 

[Torrean]

don't "feed them well" This promotes excess ammonia by increaseing waste production the day you leave. If anything feed sparingly for a week or two before you leave. I feed every other day normally and I've gone a week without feeding while on vacation a couple of times. No problems...

Getting the friend to feed the fish once or twice should be fine. Just make sure you lay out detailed instructions with an emphasis on not over feeding...

 

[James40]

well, i said change the water after. if that helps at all.

 

[rosh]

Let me quote this from another post of mine,

"I advise you to buy the electronic feeder because for your vacation, I have used these and trusted them. The blocks make a mess after they dissolve where they were dropped. The feeder can be used as a by feeder when you are at your house. When you are at your house you need to put your feeder down low, because you need to feed your fish when you are at your house to watch them how they eat and which are meeker and don't get enough food or if they are sick, ECT. When you are on vacation you need to put it higher, but not too high because that would be over feeding your fish. You need to "experiment" with your feeder to get it adjusted before you go on vacation and when you come back. As long as you have your feeder turned up you don't need to feed your fish a bit more before you leave.

If you use a slow dissolving block you need to cut it up to fit your tank and how ever many days you will be gone and how many fish you have. If you buy the 14 day sized block you need to cut it up in smaller pieces to fit a how ever many days you will be gone. Why not just wait 14 days until you feed your fish? Because the bigger the block, the bigger the mess left behind. When you come back from your vacation you need to clean all the rest of the block up that made a mess. If you go the block way you don't need to feed them a bit more before you leave either."

This part I'm adding in for your post:


What would be best is to get someone to feed your fish. The feeder could always run out of juice on the battery. Or the feeder could fall in the water or something bad like that preventing your fish from eating. The best way is to get someone to feed your fish because they can fix all the tragedies that come up. But you need to put pre-measured food in a container for each day because they may over feed your fish. And they can do all your weekly projects on your tank. Also if any fish happen to die they can take them out before they start to spread a disease. Or if a fish get sick i.e. ich they can treat them.

The best ways in order are:

#1 A responsible person

#2 An automatic feeder

#3 A dissolving feeder block

 

[Griz]

DO NOT put one of those disolving block things in your tank. 3-5 days without food should not be a problem for healthy fish. If you can find someone trustworthy to feed them a small amount halfway through your absence it wouldn't be a bad idea. If nothing else it'll make you feel better.

 

[Mako Man111]

DO NOT put one of those disolving block things in your tank. 3-5 days without food should not be a problem for healthy fish. If you can find someone trustworthy to feed them a small amount halfway through your absence it wouldn't be a bad idea. If nothing else it'll make you feel better.

I used a disolvable feeder block while I was gone for a little over a week, and every thing was fine, no dead fish, no mess, and no changes in water perameters. Bare in mind I put in half the recommended block to be on the safe side. I say use the block but use less than they say to use, just to be safe. Plus, if your really paraniod, your fish WILL be fine going a week without food.

 

[moeldner]

I've gone away for 6 days before without feeding the fish or having anyone look aftert them.

All I did was to SLIGHTLY increase their normal meal size (i only feed once a day) for the few days before I oeft to condition them (i.e. fatten them up a little).

Once I got back, I did an immediate water change and back into the normal routine. I didn't have any problems.

 

[Lord Zogat]

I wonder if I could train Kitty to Feed em?

 

[Callum]

i thought the feeder pyramids were rubbish no food had been released and all the snails ate it. and can you get an auto feeder for a juwel rio 180?

 

[Lord Zogat]

i thought the feeder pyramids were rubbish no food had been released and all the snails ate it. and can you get an auto feeder for a juwel rio 180?

Uh, whats a juwel rio 180?

The auto feeder I saw was a drum with compartments, each day it rotates to a compartment and dumps in the food. It appeared to hook onto any tank.

 

[starrynightxxi]

i would just let them go without eating. a week's nothing to a fish, and if there is food in the gravel or algae they will just pick at that and keep busy until you are home again. I wouldn't feed extra as it does increase the amount of waste and ammonia, even if you do a large water change before you go (if the food went through them that quickly, what would be the point of feeding them extra to begin with?).

also i have a betta who did not eat for two months - andit was a bare bottom tank, there was NO food - and he is very much alive and eating again. Your fish will laugh in the face of 6 days.

as for the other options, if someone can feed the fish, okay, but i don't like the blocks and i don't trust the automatic feeders.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah you can leave them a week or two comfortable without food for most fish.

some will need regular feeds but most normal community type fish will be fine.

if your worried about someone else coming in and feeding the wrong amount, wrap up 'portions' of food for them in tin foil so they just have to use 1 every couple of days or something like that.

I have an automatic feeder and it's fine, just use it for my Oscar if I go away, the rest of them can fend for themselves.

don't use the disolving blocks they're useless

 

[Tolak]

Fish in the wild live on the edge of starvation. 3-5 days is no problem for a healthy adult fish.

Feeder blocks, auto feeders, & junk like that are a waste of money, and risk contaminating your tank & overfeeding your fish. It's always better to underfeed than to overfeed.

 

[cs091]

Has anyone ever heard of a fish dying of starvation?! Apart from total abandonment.

I've always added some of that oxygenating plant before I go away. Some fish seem to eat it anyway.

CS